Stay Informed With HeatingSave | Page 18

High oil prices could stall the global economic recovery and “sow the seeds of their own destruction”. That is the view of the International Energy Agency (IEA) which says global oil demand this year is set to be lower than a previous forecast. Higher oil prices were among the cause of the body’s revision. “Persistently high prices at this stage of the economic cycle may ultimately sow the seeds of their own destruction,” the IEA said.

Energy watchdog Ofgem is looking into recent gas and electricity price rises, to see if more action is needed to protect consumers. It said that the net profit margin of £65 per typical customer in September was now £90, a 38% increase.

The major suppliers of energy have told the regulator Ofgem that there is “little chance” of them reducing energy bills this winter. (of course we all know that when they say this they really mean, no chance) Energy firms say that their costs, excluding the price of the energy itself, have risen steeply and that it is for this reason that prices will not come down; despite an anticipated decrease in wholesale energy costs.

Utilities firm Npower has admitted it had not communicated well the changes it made to charges, and now 1.8m people are to receive an average refund of £35 in one of the biggest pay-outs of its kind. Npower says it will write to all those affected over the next two months, even if they are no longer customers.

There is currently zero confidence in BP following the fiasco when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank on the 20th of April after an explosion, killing 11 workers. Deepwater Horizon has become the United States’ largest oil spill in history – an estimated equivalent of 528,000 to 836,000 barrels spilled.

World oil prices have recovered due to a number of factors. Some have cited the easing of European flight delays following the volcanic ash spewing from Iceland and the Goldman Sachs fraud saga. However, the main reason is the economic rebound of China. This is good news for oil exporters but bad news for under-fire UK users who use are suffering from a stagnant economy and a falling pound sterling. If you are a business or householder with an out-of-date central heating system you might well be reeling with the high cost of fuel.

There are hundreds of thousands of different holiday homes to rent in the UK. One website alone, www.cottages4you.co.uk, features more than 10,000 holiday cottages across England, Scotland and Wales, plus 650 more in Ireland. Now that summer is around the corner, it is the perfect time to think about improving the heating regime at your holiday home. HeatingSave is tailor-made for holiday homes – or even business premises – that are infrequently used.

As we told you on this site in August, nobody in the northern hemisphere is using heating oil in summer, so it was not surprising the price of oil slumped to below $100 a barrel last week amid fears of a world trade slowdown and low demand. However, yesterday saw the biggest one-day jump in the price of oil, going up by over $16 to finish at more than $120 a barrel, the biggest one-day jump ever recorded.

Owners of British Gas, Centrica, have posted profits of £5m a day but despite this raised gas prices by 35% on Wednesday. Age Concern has warned that many pensioners will be unable to pay their winter fuel bills. As gas and oil production in the North Sea falls and the world wholesale prices continually rise, it will difficult for many hard-pressed consumers to save on their heating bills just by shopping around for the best supplier.

The global price of oil has a direct impact on the amount that UK home-owners pay for their fuel and energy. With a 70% price rise of oil in the past year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced concerns that the price of oil could bring instability to global economic recovery. This may have a direct impact on the prices that you pay for fuel and energy in your home.

Crude oil prices were on the rise again yesterday, trading above $100 a barrel. Prices had dropped significantly after the summer peak of $147. It is thought that the slowdown in global economic activity and the increased output from countries like Saudi Arabia had been the main reasons for the decline; coupled with low demand during the summer months for heating oil.

Going to a music festival this year? Well, attending a traditional mass mecca of peace and love such as Glastonbury has been shown, ironically, to do more damage to the eco-system. That is why ten UK music festivals have pledged to cut their emissions by 10 per cent in 2010.